The hosts now lead the series 1-0, while defeat for India means they have still won just one Test abroad since 1986.

New Zealand had been set a target of 213 and things had looked quite bleak for them as they started the fifth day on 73-4.

Nightwatchman Paul Wiseman soon became the fifth victim, with only two runs added.

But McMillan and Cairns decided to take the attack to the Indians.

Paceman Javagal Srinath and legspinner Anil Kumble found it hard to contain the hard hitting Kiwis, and at lunch the score had moved on to188 for five, just 25 runs short of the target.

Dion Nash (with bat) is congratulated after scoring the winning runs

With the score at 211, Cairns lost his wicket to Srinath having made 61 spectacular runs.

But Dion Nash, who replaced him, immediately hit the winning boundary, with McMillan unbeaten on 74 at the other end.

Nash's four gave New Zealand their fifth successive win on home soil, apart from the first Test of this series which was washed out without a ball being bowled.

And jubilant captain Stephen Fleming said this had been the most exhausting Test of his career.

"It was stressful all the way through and you would go home every night mentally knackered," he said.

Indian catches dropped

Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin pointed to four dropped catches in the New Zealand first innings.

"Fielding has never been a strong point for us. I have no answer to why that is. It has to come from within because batting and bowling is not enough," Azharuddin said.

"We've got to sit down and try and come out with something better for the third test," he added.

"The two batsmen played very well and we weren't good enough, we gave away too many easy runs."

Scorecard

India 1st innings 208 (M. Azharuddin 103, S.R. Tendulkar 47, S.B. Doull 7-65)

New Zealand 1st innings 352 (Nash 89, D.L. Vettori 57, A. Kumble 4-83)

India 2nd innings 356 (S.C. Ganguly 48, Tendulkar 113, Azharuddin 48, D.J. Nash 3-20)

New Zealand 2nd innings

M.D. Bell c Dravid b Srinath 0
M.J. Horne lbw b Kumble 31
S.P. Fleming b Kumble 17
N.J. Astle retired hurt 1
C.D. McMillan not out 74
A.C. Parore run out 1
P.J. Wiseman lbw b Srinath 0
C.L. Cairns c Jadeja b Srinath 61
D.J. Nash not out 4

Extras (b9, lb9, nb8) 26

Total 215 for 6 (60.3 overs)

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-42, 3-51, 4-67, 5-74, 6-211.